More badges!

(I promise I'll get to the rest of the banned book list, even if it's not Banned Book Week, eventually.)

Look Knitting Scouts! I can add to my Science Scout badges knitting badges. Maybe.

I don't have much contact with "the media" so I don't know if I actually qualify for the primary badge (Proselytize Knitting). I did help a friend by crochet supplies because she wanted to start up again.

I "will impress you with my math prowess" (level I) - knitting math is generally straight forward - even if I usually don't worry about gauge (haven't knit any sweaters, etc. yet). I just knit until it's the size I want. But my calculations for flat-knit circles work in garter stitch at least. (Does the use of trig functions move me up to level 1.5?)
I definitely qualify for "Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application", as my "reds bag" is an almost unusable size and shape but cute.

In other knitting news: I finally wove in the ends on 2 wash cloths and 3 burp cloths that I started on in June. They even got washed last night so I might be able to give them to my new-Dad coworker this week. I bought some pretty wool a few weeks ago and will start knitting a scarf for my niece that I see in a couple weeks. (3 plane rides before I see her should be plenty of time) And after that I'm going to start a baby blanket for my grand-nephew; it should be done by Christmas.

BTW did I pick up my "rock licker" badge? (It's lunch time and I'm too lazy to go back and check.)

Needles (the good kind)

I'm shamelessly selling my post for the chance at knitting needles. Knit Purl Gurl is giving away this lovely set of interchangeable needles.

In other knitting news I'm trying to decide if a 36" x 36" blanket is going to use a gazillion yards of yarn or something reasonable. I've been thinking about and looking at baby blanket patterns. Then last night, for kicks, I grabbed 3 remnants of some balls of Lily Sugar'n Cream and knit it up on a pair of 15s in garter stitch. Muddy colors (they were rather random remnants) but really squishy soft. I need to weigh my little 4X4 swatch. There should be postage scale around here somewhere.

Stupid rule..

..cost us a win.

Nettie's playing softball this spring. The church league is coach pitch so there are some odd rules; like 5 pitches - fair, ball, strike, foul...(including beaned hitters!) doesn't matter - per hitter and 5 runs per inning max, but no mercy rule so one game was 20 - 2 (we were the 2s). Saturday the girls were playing really well, like an actual team and everything! Last play of the game we got 3 runs in but only the first one counted because it was our 5th of the inning, so instead of winning 15-13 we tied 13 all. All the parent's were still really proud and excited (the girls, too). I don't think the girls realized that they actual got 15 runs and that's probably for the best. I realize that the 5 runs/inning rule most likely has been (and will be) in our favor also, but I still find it hard to believe that the game can end mid-play. When the timer (1 hour/game) goes off they finish the play; although not necessarily the inning, which could be very annoying for the team that gets shorted an at-bat. The important thing is the girls are having fun and Nettie is getting to know some different kids.This picture isn't from last weekend's game but it's our favorite short-stop/2nd baseman/catcher/right fielder/1st baseman waiting on a pitch right after she popped a foul ball into her own forehead.

In knitting news, Mom loved her shawl but it is WAY too warm to be worn before October. Things Moms Like is having a giveaway of knitting stuff. And now I can make another entry for it. I've knit two more of face/dish cloths. The last one I decided to test my circles-in-the-flat pattern/calculations.
Other than running out of yarn it worked OK (this is post pressing). The calculation is still not quite right and I need to mark rows better than I did (hence the semi-circle, I lost my place and kept repeating rows). Also it's important to increase/decrease on both sides evenly, otherwise you get more of a parallelogram look.

Random things I've been doing

Here's what I've been doing lately:

Getting sunburned

T-town Airshow

Alright gardening hasn't really taken up that much time but I have been planting stuff with help from Nettie. Someone's also been helping unplant things and it better not be one of my animals!

2009 Garden

I went to the TBDC's The Roaring 20s dance weekend before last. I didn't have a costume for that one. (Flapper stuff was so boxy.) But I did have a costume for another one Friday night.
70s Dance (@Forest Lake Meth.) I was going for the late 70s disco look. I'm not sure anyone appreciated it. (And I remembered my camera had a timer.)

I finished two books last weekend (yay 3-day!) and throughly enjoyed both The Engine's Child by Holly Phillips (deadwood) and Farthing by Jo Walton (free e-book from Tor). I'll be looking for more from both authors. (Best line from Farthing "he wished that people would read the rest of the things Jew aren't supposed to eat and take to serving us buttered lobster or shrimp on toast." Out of context they may not be so funny, even in context it's not LOL-funny, but it still has me giggling.)

Oh, and knitting (and some sewing but that's not quite done yet)A week and a half to Mother's Day and only one hole left to fix.

Other less depressing news

Knitting practice and a project:
Stripes and Intarsia:

Circular practice:

*
More circular practice that started with I-cord practice on a short scrap piece of yarn:


I decided I HAD to learn circular knitting right NOW because of a project I saw in this book. Felted bowls! I think part of the reason I like it is the example picture is of one in this awesome fuchsia and it's something you can give people without them saying 'oh, a(nother) scarf'. Because how many scarves and sweaters can a person give their loved ones, anyway? Speaking of which:

Not perfect but I wore it this week. It's a smallish, kind of, worsted weight yarn (acrylic) on size 15 needles. The same needles I was working the intarsia on. I wanted it to be a really airy looking knit. I didn't worry about the curling, obviously, otherwise I would have done some kind of border. The size 15 needles didn't look quite as much like vampire stakes as the needles I remember Anna using to make Kate's scarf (besides both sets were aluminum).

I got the interchangeable circular needles (I can't remember the brand), since I'm doing well with the aluminum needles I think I'll like that system. You can put any size points on cords of three different lengths. (I, of course, got a set of double pointed needles in the same size as the points I got.) One question (because I've been too lazy to look it up in my how-to book) - when knitting with DPNs, do the three (or more) hold the stitches (like the left needle) and you use the fourth to knit the new ones (as the right needle)? I started out having to use all fourhold stitches, so it was a moot question, but when I dropped to three I tried to just use those three but it was hard/awkward. So was the 4th needle suppose to go in the basket or was I suppose to cycle the needles through, which is what I did after a row or so.

Completely unrelated to knitting:
This bird has got to find another spot to sleep, or not arrive until much later at night. He's perched by my backdoor.




*I loved the way this turned out it looks like a bit like the feather dusters/maids in Beauty and the Beast, except orange. I remembered that I had some really cheap yarn for plastic canvas needlepoint (and the full skeins are not colors I would use for real projects), so why not use that for practice?

Loot!

Ok, I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of my second knitting project -part of Nettie's take Thursday morning:



Since the first bag didn't quite come out right I did another. This one was with a narrower yarn so it took a little longer to knit. I didn't decrease fast enough and the flap is a little bit longer than the front of the bag. I also had to block the flap to try and get it into a nice triangle (when I realized how long it was going to be I changed the decrease rate and it was, predictably, a little lopsided). This yarn felted faster with less fuzzing. I wonder if the yarn weight was a factor in that? Less time in the washer probably helped with the fuzzing and lint knots. I knit it tighter in general which means it shrank less, too.

You really can't tell but I knitted the front (under the flap) in a checkerboard pattern which looked 'eh' before felting* but turned out pretty nice afterward; You can't see it but you can feel the texture. I like felting. It hides minor mistakes like dropped stitches - the holes just close right up.

And just because she's so cute:

Honey sporting her new 'outfit'. (The harness - let's see her back herself out of that.)

*Not sure why. It looks good in my practice yarn. Maybe my tension and stitch length varied too much? I screwed up more on my stitch counting than I thought?

Sucess, sort of.

As threatened here are some more pictures of my first real knitting project.
Here's the early stage I posted before:


I forgot to take a photo of the finished knit piece before sewing. A question for any knitters out there - is it normal for the edges to roll in (towards purl side) or did I do something wrong? (pull the end stitches too tight?)

All sewn up, pre-felting:


Post felting and in need of a hair cut since there was some lint in the washer:


All done:

I learned that the item shrinks more lengthwise than widthwise, and if I'd thought about it that would have been obvious (it started out 'looser' lengthwise). But that meant that my nicely proportioned triangular flap became almost not big enough to fold over. Oops. So a partial success; it will still be given as a present because I'm not sure I have time to make another better one.

Now I'm trying to master vertical ribbing and figure out how to do a checkerboard pattern. I have to go to Virginia Monday and back on Wednesday so I should have lots of time to practice when the boss is driving.

And because she's just so darn cute - Q-tip sleeping in my suitcase

It's a box and it smells like Mom!

Knitting Project #1

I am so excited about this. I can't really explain why, either. I'm making a little bag* for Nettie for Christmas. First off I found some really pretty yarn.

And the knitting is going easily. Except I couldn't find the end of the skein inside the ball so it's not pulling out all nice and easy, I keep having to unwind the ball as I go. My plan is to make a rectangle about twice as long as it is wide, then decrease the stitches from both ends to make a triangular end. I'll fold the rectangle in half and sew it up with the triangle for a flap (with a snap closure added later). Then I'm going to felt it!

Like I said, I'm unreasonably excited about the project. I'll post pictures when I'm finished.


*Like a comsetic's bag or for odds and ends in her backpack or something, it'll be about 4"x4" when I'm done.

New Skill

Last Christmas "Santa" gave Nettie and me a pair of knitting needles, some yarn, and "An Idiot's Guide to Knitting". The year before I'd found a knitting for kids kit* and then never sat down and figured it out with her and the kit got lost. I tried a few times with the book and another book my Mom had and couldn't quite get the hang of it. The pictures skipped some crucial bit. Skip to our trip.

While staying with Judy and Danny, Judy pulled out a sweater she was working on one evening. And I mention I'd tried with the book and just couldn't quite figure it out. She fishes out a pair of needles hands me a little yarn and shows me how. I dropped a bunch of stitches and split the yarn a bunch (all she had handy was some cotton to make washcloths out of) but I got the motion down.

When I got home I go tout the needles and practiced. I still split the yarn some and drop and randomly add stitches but that got better. Here's my practice piece:



At the top is where I started, all addition of stitches and holes are accidental. After I got comfortable with the knit stitch I tried purling. That didn't work so well the first time so I knit a few rows and tried again. It worked better. Then I did a big section of stockinette (alternating knit and purl rows). Somewhere in the middle of this section I started a row, put it down, came back and accidentally reversed direction. Somewhere else I think I purled part of a row and then switched to knitting. oops. Then there is some rib stitching (alternating two or more rows of knit and purl). Then I tried decreasing on purpose (maybe a few too many per row) and increasing (these holes are on purpose). Then finished up. I'm still splitting the yarn some, but I usually don't make a new stitch out of it.

Now, to teach Nettie.

*It made a purse, I avoided the one with the stuffed dog that you made a sweater for (even though it was unbelievably adorable) to save her dog the indignity of sweaters.